Beam Delivery Report

A daily (more or less) report on beam delivery at TRIUMF, and part of the Beam Delivery group's Guide for Experimenters.

13:54, 24 September 2009 (PDT)

We've run into a couple of problems at ISAC that will delay the startup of ISAC by about three weeks. This should have no effect on the cyclotron or BL1A/2C startup next week.

First off, there's a leak into the secondary vacuum volume on the west target station (ITW). The leak is in the second exit module, under the service cap, and requires removing the exit module to the hot cell in order to replace an o-ring that is not easily accessed. We actually sealed the leak temporarily in the hope of running through the first target of Schedule 116 (HP ZrC in ITW) and effecting a repair during the second target run (HP Nb in ITE), but we've decided to go ahead and fix it now while we resolve a bigger issue that was discovered last Friday: a leak through the BL2A entrance window into ITW. This is going to require removing the target and entrance modules to provide access to the window, and fabricating and installing a replacement. The net result is that the first target run has been scrubbed. ISAC beam production is now scheduled to start October 21 (or as soon as possible once repairs are completed). — Morton

11:54, 15 September 2009 (PDT)

Mini-shutdown has begun. The maintenance schedule is available here, but you'll need a password. If you can access trshare, you should be able to read it. In short, the cyclotron will be off until the middle of next week. The RF and main magnet are scheduled to be restarted on September 23, with injection planned for September 26. Beam production on BL2A and BL1A is scheduled to resume September 29 and 30, respectively.

For the next couple of weeks, we'll post updates if the shutdown schedule changes. Regular posting will resume September 29. — Morton

19:44, 11 September 2009 (PDT) — WEEKEND UPDATE

BL2A is currently the sole user of the cyclotron, taking 70 µA for RIB production at ISAC. PIF is finished and BL1A has been offline since last week. We'll continue to run at 70 µA until Sunday evening, then reduce the current to 40 µA as we head into the two-week mini-shutdown starting next week.

At ISAC, TITAN is currently taking ⁴⁶K with plans to take several potassium isotopes over the weekend. Other than for end-of-target scans etc., they'll take beam until we shut the cyclotron down on Tuesday. — Morton

18:05, 10 September 2009 (PDT)

We're on the home stretch of Schedule 115. Right now, BL2A is taking 70 µA while PIF runs on BL2C1. This will continue (with PIF running off and on) for the next few days. It's been tentatively decided to stay at 70 µA until Sunday evening, then reduce the current to 40 µA for the last 36 hours before we begin the mini-shutdown on Tuesday.

At ISAC, CSB development has been put off — a steerer upstream of the PHENIX ECR charge breeder won't hold voltage, meaning we can't get RIB into the CSB. We're setting up to deliver beam to TITAN instead; if all goes well, they should get beam this evening rather than midday tomorrow. — Morton

14:40, 9 September 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron's been defined off for maintenance, even though there was very little required on the cyclotron side. The bigger issue is that time was needed in the ISAC Target Hall, meaning that BL2A's unavailable for the day. With BL1A already offline for the September mini-shutdown, that leaves us with nowhere to dump the proton beam. We'll get things running again this afternoon.

Work is underway to disconnect TM1 and set up a leak detector to look at the west target station at ISAC. Once that's complete, we'll switch the beam to the yield station and begin preparing for CSB development. We will run at high proton currents this evening (at least) to determine the yields of potassium isotopes for CSB development and the upcoming TITAN experiments. A final decision as to how much proton current we'll run with over the weekend (and into the mini-shutdown) will be made tomorrow. — Morton

15:47, 8 September 2009 (PDT)

BL2A continues to be the sole user of the cyclotron, taking 50 µA of proton beam. PIF will start up again later in the week on BL2C1. There's no real cyclotron maintenance scheduled for tomorrow, but BL2A will be unavailable for a few hours (see below) so there won't be much going on.

At ISAC, we've been delivering ⁸Li to β-NMR/NQR (mostly NQR) over the weekend. Startup Friday night was delayed due to problems with the polarizer, but the experiment has been running ever since. They'll run until tomorrow morning, at which point we'll have a 6–8 hour maintenance for Target Hall work prior to next week's mini-shutdown. We'll jump into yield measurements and charge-state booster development after that. — Morton

11:38, 4 September 2009 (PDT)

Protons were restored this morning and we're currently delivering 60 µA to BL2A. This may be increased to 70 µA as the day goes on, but that will depend on ISAC. BL1B will be used for PIF over the weekend.

After a day of pumping and HV conditioning (without protons on target), the ISAC production target and source seem much more stable than they were two nights ago. We're setting up to deliver ⁸Li to β-NMR/NQR later today. That will run until next Wednesday's maintenance. — Morton

15:44, 3 September 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is well underway. The BL1 extraction foil has been changed to allow 1B operation for the next few days, but ISIS work is continuing. Protons aren't expected before (early?) Friday morning.

At ISAC, setup to β-NMR/NQR is currently on hold until the proton beam is restored. The target HV — bias, extraction electrode, and Einzel lens — have been increased with the protons off in order to further condition the target and (hopefully) reduce the spark rate once the beam is restored. They'll be reduced to their operating values when the beam comes back in order to proceed with stable beam tuning and setup. The plan is to deliver ⁸Li to the experiment(s) by tomorrow evening. — Morton

21:49, 30 August 2009 (PDT) — WEEKEND UPDATE

BL1A is taking ~105 µA and BL2A 40. BL2C1 is set up for patient treatment. This will be the last week of BL1A running before the September shutdown. BL2A and 2C will continue until mid-month.

ISAC is squeezing ⁹Li out of the SiC target we've been running for the last five weeks or so for an experiment at TUDA-II. This should wrap up with the start of PT tomorrow morning, at which point we'll begin moving the shielding blocks from ITW to ITE. TM4 is being HV conditioned; heating will follow. — Morton

20:43, 26 August 2009 (PDT)

We're currently delivering beam to BL1A, BL2A, and BL2C4, though the RF has been a bit unsettled all day. BL1A is currently getting ~100 µA, BL2C4 ~65, and BL2A 35. This will continue overnight, then BL2A will stand down for 6–8 hours for Target Hall work while we switch from BL2C4 to BL2C1.

At ISAC, TM4 is in the east target station and pumping down. We'll continue to deliver ⁹Li to β-NQR overnight, then switch to TUDA-II following the Target Hall work. — Morton

20:48, 25 August 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is coming to an end. ISIS is ready to go, but there's now an issue with the RF booster; experts have been contacted. The plan is to restore protons to BL1A, BL2A, and BL2C4 overnight. 1A will take beam for the next week, 2C4 for another day or so before we switch to patient treatment and PIF, and 2A off and on while we sort out TM4.

It does look like TM4 will be moved to ISAC's east target station tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll deliver ⁹Li to β-NQR (depending on how the cyclotron behaves overnight). The experiment has made some progress despite taking RIB from a target (silicon carbide) that isn't optimal for Li production. As a result, Science Division has agreed that they may continue to take beam beyond tomorrow morning. —Morton

23:42, 24 August 2009 (PDT)

We're currently delivering ~110 µA down BL1A, ~65 down BL2C4, and 35 down BL2A. This will continue overnight, but tomorrow's "maintenance if required" is not only required, it's going to be long: the ISIS filament needs to be replaced again. As it was replaced last week, this wasn't expected. A full 12-hour maintenance is planned, starting at 08:30; it's not clear when beam will be restored to the various beamlines.

At ISAC, ^8,9Li were delivered to β-NQR over the weekend. This is scheduled to continue until Wednesday morning, at which point we'll begin setting up ⁹Li for TUDA at SEBT1. This was supposed to be another ¹¹Li experiment, but we won't have TM4 available in time. The bulk of the shutter repair has been completed, but it's still going to be Wednesday before we're able to move TM4 to the east target station. — Morton

21:49, 21 August 2009 (PDT) — WEEKEND UPDATE

Right now: ~115 µA down BL1A, ~60 µA down BL2C4, and 35 µA down BL2A. Things should continue like this through the weekend.

Things are still messed up at ISAC, but we're setting up to deliver Li isotopes to β-NMR/NQR over the weekend. Unfortunately, ¹¹Li won't be one of the isotopes delivered as we're still running on the SiC target we've been using for the last month. TM4 and its new high-power Ta target, which were supposed to be delivering RIB by now, are still in the ISAC hot cell; a problem with the shutter on the RIB extraction port of the module was discovered as it was about to be craned into the east target station this morning. It will be early next week before that is fixed, and likely mid-week before we're able to move the module. The experimenters affected by this have been informed. — Morton

17:24, 19 August 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron's been running since about lunch time, and is currently delivering ~100 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C4, and 5 µA to BL2A. The 2A current will likely be increased to 35 µA within the next few hours. The machine should run like this for the next few days.

As for ISAC: We've restored ²⁵Na to TIGRESS. They'll continue running until Friday morning, at which point we'll (hopefully) move TM4 back to the east target station. The electrical short that's kept us from getting TM4 running was identified and fixed in the hot cell, but it will take another day to get it buttoned back up. We'll have to interrupt delivery again on Saturday to finish the service connections. Now that we have a better idea of how things are going to play out over the next week or so, we'll get the beam schedule updated. — Morton

15:32, 18 August 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day. The cyclotron RF is coming back on at 94 kV after some promising development work last night, while the ISIS backplate change is underway. That's expected to be completed tonight. The goal is to have beam restored by 10:00 tomorrow morning.

At ISAC, we weren't able to reinstall TM4 today as planned. That likely won't happen until the end of the week. In the meantime, we'll continue to deliver RIB from the current low-power SiC target. As a result, the beam schedule through next week is still in flux. Hopefully we'll know more tomorrow. — Morton

14:10, 17 August 2009 (PDT)

Cyclotron beam development is underway and will continue overnight. Maintenance will start 07:30 tomorrow to accommodate a Q15 backflush. Beam is expected back Wednesday morning, though it may be delayed beyond 08:30 depending on the need to access the lower vault for vacuum work.

ISAC will likely be off until Wednesday afternoon as TM4 is reconnected in ITE. The switchover from ITW to ITE will not happen before the weekend. We'll continue to deliver RIB from the current target until then. The beam schedule will be updated accordingly. — Morton

20:33, 11 August 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~115 µA to BL1A, 5 µA to BL2A, and ~3 nA to BL2C1 for PIF. There is a brief (~30 minutes or so) interruption planned for maintenance tomorrow morning. BL2A will be declared off for a bit longer (2–3 hours) to investigate a problem with the east target station extraction electrode.

TIGRESS experiment S1107 is (finally) running relatively smoothly. Problems with the SCRF over the weekend have been resolved — the main oscillator had to be replaced — and we are now able to deliver ²⁵Na reliably. The yield measurements scheduled for next Sunday night have been cancelled, so this experiment will run through to 08:30 Monday morning and the start of cyclotron beam development.

M15 experiment M1130 still has to submit a beam properties request in order to start tomorrow as scheduled. Otherwise, everything seems to be in order. — Morton

18:04, 6 August 2009 (PDT)

Yesterday's 24-hour maintenance ran a bit long, but is finally over. Right now, the cyclotron's delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C4, and 5 µA to BL2A. The 2A current will likely be increased overnight as we set up a new experiment at ISAC.

Work on setting up that experiment (TIGRESS experiment S1107) is under way on two fronts. Stable ²⁵Mg from OLIS is being tuned through the ISAC-II accelerator to the experiment as a pilot beam, while radioactive ²⁵Na is being developed online. Because some time will be needed to optimize the time spread of the beam at TIGRESS, we expect to switch from stable beam to RIB tomorrow. This experiment will then run until August 16.

Please note that the site will be open to the public for TRIUMF's 40th Anniversary Open House on Saturday. The cyclotron will remain running, but beam delivery at ISAC will be suspended. We'll take the time to do some target hall work in the hopes of keeping next Wednesday's scheduled maintenance to a minimum. More details about the open house are available here. — Morton

22:27, 31 July 2009 (PDT) — WEEKEND UPDATE

Now that the temperature is starting to drop, things are starting to run a little more smoothly. BL1A is currently taking ~110 µA, BL2C4 ~60 µA, and BL2A ~5 µA. We expect to run with currents like these over the weekend.

ISAC was offline for part of the day to accommodate a target module move (postponed from Thursday). Before that started, we lost a cavity in one of the superconducting cryomodules of the ISAC-II accelerator due to RF problems. New accelerator tunes (using other cavities to achieve the desired beam energies) have been developed to provide RIB to TUDA over the weekend. They'll continue to take ²¹Na until the start of maintenance on Wednesday.

Speaking of maintenance: This is a long weekend, so Ops will have less than a day to sort out this week's maintenance list. Have your jobs ready before Tuesday's 10:00 ops/delivery meeting. — Morton

21:48, 29 July 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~50 µA to Bl2C4, and 5 µA to BL2A, and we expect to keep running like this for the next few days. Cyclotron maintenance ran a bit longer than planned (see the log for details), but the machine was running shortly after 12:00. The big problem now? The heat is playing havoc with ISIS, causing frequent trips with 20–30 minutes of downtime each time.

At ISAC, TUDA experiment S1103 is back taking beam. They'll do so overnight, then we'll have to shut BL2A down for four hours for a target module move. Once that's complete, the experiment will run through the long weekend and to next week's maintenance day. — Morton

21:18, 28 July 2009 (PDT)

Things are running, but the heat is still causing problems: we've lost a few hours today due to ISIS problems, and we're having to run BL2C4 at a reduced current. Right now, we're delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~50 µA to BL2C4, and 5 µA to BL2A. Network problems interfered with the running ISAC experiment this morning, but it's now running as smoothly as could be expected, given the temperature in the ISAC-II hall.

Maintenance starts tomorrow morning at 08:30. There is only a two-hour interruption planned on the cyclotron side. At ISAC, it will be more like eight as TM4 is disconnected and readied for transport to the hot cell later in the week. — Morton

14:39, 26 July 2009 (PDT) — WEEKEND UPDATE

Things are recovering from last night's thunderstorm(s), but the cyclotron is still not entirely stable. Today's humidity seems to be causing problems with the ISIS 300 kV HVPS, while the heat is causing water temperature trips on BL2C. As a result, 2C is offline while the cyclotron delivers ~115 µA to BL1A and 15 to BL2A.

At ISAC, TUDA-II got some ²¹Na before all heck broke loose last night. ISAC Ops is in the process of restoring the beam. As part of the commissioning plan for the new ISAC-II current monitors, we are delivering beam at an energy higher than 5 MeV/nucleon; this is the first time we've been able to do so. — Morton

18:22, 30 June 2009 (PDT)

BL1A is getting ~110 µA, BL2A 30, and BL2C4 70. The hope is to increase the current to BL2A to 40 µA overnight, but that depends on how the target behaves.

At ISAC, TACTIC ran successfully over the weekend. An attempt has been made to tune to β-NMR; unfortunately the target is sparking frequently, making tuning (not to mention the scheduled experiments) difficult. The decision has been made to try conditioning it overnight at a higher bias voltage (40 kV) and to increase the proton current if the spark rate decreases. The experimenters have been informed. Tuning will (hopefully) resume tomorrow morning.

I'll be out of town for the next three weeks, so updates may be less frequent. As always, check the MCR and ISAC logs for more information. – Morton

20:52, 25 June 2009 (PDT)

BL2C4 is getting ~75 µA (up from 70) and stable beam tuning to TACTIC is underway. Otherwise, nothing has changed since yesterday. Hopefully we'll have more to report on the ISAC side tomorrow. – Morton

23:10, 24 June 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is over, and beam has been restored to BL1A (~115 µA) and BL2C4 (~70 µA). BL2A is still off-line.

At ISAC, TM4 is continuing to pump down. Stable beam is being tuned to TACTIC to establish the accelerator tune for RIB over the weekend; they'll take the stable beam, at reduced currents, for instrument setup once tuning is complete tomorrow and until RIB is available. – Morton

22:31, 23 June 2009 (PDT)

Cyclotron development has been underway since about 08:30 this morning. That will continue into the wee hours, with some high-current BL1A operation being likely. Maintenance – 24 hours, including an ISIS backplate change, though it may not take that long – starts 08:30 tomorrow.

At ISAC, TM4 is pumping down in the east target station. Services will be connected over the next couple of days so that we can begin HV conditioning as the vacuum allows. From past experience, it will take at least a couple of days to get to that point. When we have a better idea of how the startup is going to proceed (and when we can expect protons on target), we'll let people know. – Morton

18:08, 22 June 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~115 µA to BL1A and ~75 µA to BL2C4. BL2A is still off. This will continue overnight. Cyclotron development is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by 24 hours of maintenance starting 08:30 Wednesday.

At ISAC, TM4 was transported to the east target station this afternoon. It will be roughed out with service connections, etc. to follow. We don't expect it to be ready for beam 08:30 Thursday as scheduled; it will more likely be Friday evening or Saturday. The experimenters scheduled to run over the weekend have been warned. In the meantime, TM3 will remain under vacuum in ITW for commissioning. – Morton

20:25, 19 June 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

BL1A is currently taking ~110 µA and BL2C4 ~75 µA. This should continue through the weekend.

ISAC will not take protons before maintenance day. It's been decided to save the ZrC target mounted on TM3 that's supposed to be running right now for a development run in the fall, given this week's change to a HP Ta target in TM4. Startup on that target may itself be delayed, however. The heat shield failed yesterday's leak check and was replaced today; as a result, we weren't able to transport TM4 to ITE as planned. Hopefully that will happen Monday. – Morton

21:38, 18 June 2009 (PDT)

We lost the BL1A triplet booster pump at about 21:00 yesterday, so no beam could be delivered overnight. A replacement was found (in Port Coquitlam) and installed by about 13:50 this afternoon, and beam was restored around 14:40. Right now, the cyclotron is delivering ~115 µA to BL1A and ~50 µA to BL2C4 for isotope production (with a goal of ~70 µA or so). ISAC is still not running, and likely will not take protons on the current target. It looks like we'll be running with BL1A and BL2C4 until next Tuesday's development shift. – Morton

16:24, 12 June 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

As has been the case all week, the cyclotron is delivering ~115 µA to BL1A while BL2C remains in PIF mode. Isotope production on BL2C4 is scheduled to resume tomorrow. BL2A is still offline.

At ISAC, TM3 was installed in the west target station today. People will be in tomorrow to continue connecting services and establish vacuum. TM4 will move from the east station to the hot cell on Monday. – Morton

20:42, 11 June 2009 (PDT)

BL1A is continuing to run at ~115 µA while BL2C is in PIF mode. We'll switch from BL2C1 to BL2C4 for isotope production on Saturday. BL2A is still offline and will be through the weekend.

The experiments on M9, M15, and M20 were all able to take beam straight out of yesterday's maintenance. No equipment changes are scheduled for next week.

TM4 is ready to be removed from the east target station; however, it looks like TM3 is (finally) ready to be installed in the west. At this point it looks as though that will happen tomorrow, with TM4 being moved at a later date (to be determined). Either way, it will take several days to pump down TM3/ITW and ready it for protons. By the end of next week, we should be taking protons on TM3 and have TM4 reinstalled, with a new target, in ITE. &nash; Morton

14:22, 9 June 2009 (PDT)

BL1A is running at ~115 µA, BL2C1 is taking ~5 nA, and BL2A is offline. There is a short maintenance planned for tomorrow morning (08:30—11:00), but otherwise things should continue like this until we resume isotope production on BL2C4 on Saturday.

At ISAC, we're still trying to get TM3 buttoned up for a development run with a ZrC target. At this point, it looks like the module won't move into the target station until the end of the week, meaning we won't get protons on target until next week at the earliest. TM4 has been leak-checked and will move to the hot cell to have its target replaced within the next couple of days. – Morton

23:05, 4 June 2009 (PDT)

Sorry about the lack of updates; I've been absent due to illness. Information about current ops, including the ISAC and MCR e-logs, can be found on TRIUMF's main site:
http://www.triumf.ca/research/operations-controls
– Morton

21:51, 29 May 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~115 µA to BL1A and 25 µA to BL2A. BL2C is in PT mode – the first round was this morning, and it will continue through Monday.

At ISAC, DRAGON is still taking ¹⁷O from OLIS while the 8π takes ¹⁹Ne from the online source. As before, DRAGON is scheduled to run (with occasional energy changes) until Tuesday morning, while RIB delivery to the 8π wraps up Sunday at 08:30. – Morton

20:36, 28 May 2009 (PDT)

As has been the case for the last couple of days, the cyclotron is currently delivering ~115 µA to BL1A, ~70 µA to BL2C, and 20 µA to BL2A. This will continue overnight and into the weekend. Four days of patient treatment (proton therapy) will start tomorrow at 08:30. As always, this will mean an interruption in beam delivery of a couple of hours each day.

DRAGON is continuing to take stable beam at ISAC, while the 8π continues to take RIB. Both will continue into the weekend. No changes (other than energy changes for DRAGON) are expected before Saturday. – Morton

20:25, 27 May 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is over. BL1A is getting ~115 µA, BL2C ~70, and BL2A 20. Things will continue like this until the weekend, when the BL2A current may increase for a shift or two before the target is shut down Sunday morning.

At ISAC, we're still delivering ¹⁷O to DRAGON and ¹⁹Ne to the 8π. Other than energy changes for DRAGON, no changes are planned for the next couple of days. – Morton

20:49, 26 May 2009 (PDT)

Right now, the cyclotron's delivering ~115 µA to BL1A, ~70 µA to BL2C (for isotope production), and 20 µA to BL2A. The low current to ISAC is at the request of the experimenter. There is a short (~3 hour) maintenance period tomorrow, starting at 09:30. The maintenance list is here.

At ISAC, two experiments are running: ¹⁹Ne from the online source is going to the 8π for experiment S1192, while ¹⁷O from the OLIS multi-charge source (i.e. the Supernanogan) is going to DRAGON for experiment S1216. This is not what was originally scheduled, but rather what was agreed upon last week in response to the observed ¹⁸F rate (see Saturday's update). RIB will be unavailable for maintenance for a full day tomorrow, starting at 08:30, while stable beam should continue uninterrupted. S1192 will run until Sunday at 08:30, and S1216 will run until next Tuesday. – Morton

15:54, 23 May 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

The cyclotron's currently delivering ~115 µA to BL1A for Meson Hall operation and ~70 µA to BL2C for isotope production. BL2A is off in order to fix a leak in a vacuum line to the operating storage tank. We expect to resume BL2A operation with 60 µA on target later today.

At ISAC, we're in the process of delivering the first beam to an experiment from the Supernanogan multi-charge-state ion source. DRAGON is going to take ¹⁷O until the beginning of June instead of ¹⁸F as originally planned because of problems with the on-line production target. The ISAC beam schedule has been changed to reflect this, as well as RIB delivery to the 8π starting Monday. Full details are available here. – Morton

21:49, 21 May 2009 (PDT)

Things came together more quickly than expected this morning. The cyclotron is currently delivering ~105 µA to BL1A, ~65 µA to BL2C, and 60 µA to BL2A; this should continue for the foreseeable future.

At ISAC, we're retooling the schedule for the next couple of weeks. The Supernanogan high-charge-state source is being installed in OLIS in the hopes of delivering ¹⁷O to DRAGON within the next few days, while TUDA takes more ¹⁸F in the interim. RIB delivery is still being hampered by the condition of the target; on top of that, we're now having problems with the Hall probe readbacks for the preseparator and separator magnets. We can deliver beam overnight, but changing masses is problematic at best. This will likely require protons off for access to the mass separator room tomorrow. – Morton

17:08, 20 May 2009 (PDT)

Today is maintenance day. We're scheduled to resume beam delivery at 08:30 tomorrow, but that's not going to happen for a couple of big reasons:

• The BL1A extraction probe failed during a foil change this morning. It's been retracted into its housing; the Probes group will go into the vault tomorrow morning to inspect the probe and, if possible, repair it. If it has to come out of its housing to be repaired, BL1A can expect significant downtime.
• We've still got air getting into the copper active water system. That will also be investigated while the cyclotron is off tomorrow.

There are other, more minor, issues to be addressed, but those two will keep us from restarting the cyclotron until late tomorrow at best.

On the ISAC side, we're delivering ¹⁸O from OLIS to TUDA at SEBT-1. The production target had to be cooled down to allow a power supply to be replaced earlier today, so we're taking this opportunity to investigate the poor vacuum. The source will be restarted and the target heaters ramped back up overnight. The plan is to carry out yield measurements and beam development tomorrow, once protons are restored; the schedule beyond that is in the process of being changed. We will have to stand down the ISAC-II accelerators for ~3 hours tomorrow morning to allow radiography of the helium buffer tank support structure, but will resume delivery to TUDA afterwards. – Morton

20:14, 19 May 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron's currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~65 µA to BL2C, and 60 µA to BL2A. Beam is scheduled to go off at 08:30 tomorrow for 24 hours to allow an ISIS backplate change (among other things). Beam is expected back Thursday morning.

At ISAC, TUDA is still taking a mass 18 beam at SEBT-1. The available ¹⁸F rate does not appear to be sufficient for the upcoming DRAGON run (S1123), so the schedule will likely change within the next 24 hours. There will be work in the Target Hall and other areas during tomorrow's scheduled maintenance, with beam development planned for Thursday. – Morton

18:50, 15 May 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

We've been having problems with one of the active cooling circuits all afternoon. As a result, the RF has tripped repeatedly. The cause is not clear – it looks like air is somehow getting into the system and causing flow interlocks to fail, but we don't know how, nor do we know how long it's going to take to resolve.

Before all of this, the cyclotron was delivering ~115 µA down BL1A, ~65 µA down BL2C (for isotope production), and 60 µA down BL2A. The plan is to resume operation at those currents once we're able to keep the RF running.

Because of the holiday on Monday, the weekly Ops/Beam Delivery meeting will be Tuesday at 10:00 in the Auditorium. As always, experimenters are encouraged to attend. –Morton

21:24, 13 May 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~115 µA down BL1A, ~65 µA down BL2C for isotope production, and 50 µA down BL2A. This should continue overnight. There is maintenance planned for tomorrow – a short day starting around 10:00 for the cyclotron, and about six hours' worth of work starting at 08:30 at ISAC. M9 is scheduled to be restarted following tomorrow's maintenance, but otherwise no changes are expected.

At ISAC we're finally delivering ¹⁸F to TUDA at SEBT1. We essentially had to start over this morning after having problems with both production from the target and beam tuning into the experimental chamber last night. TUDA will take ¹⁸F until next week. – Morton

13:56, 12 May 2009 (PDT)

Another interesting day. The cyclotron is still delivering ~110 µA to BL1A and low currents to BL2C for PIF, while we continue to try to start a new target at ISAC. Proton scans of that target are underway (at reduced current) and it looks like some effort's going to be needed to straighten out the BL2A tune before we can continue to higher currents. In the meantime, thing will continue as they are in the Meson Hall for the next couple of days. – Morton

17:32, 11 May 2009 (PDT)

A new target is being brought on-line at ISAC and PIF is running on BL2C, so the currents from the cyclotron are a bit odd: 110 µA down BL1A, nA down BL2C, and 25 µA down BL2A. 2A will continue to ramp up to 70—75 µA overnight, while 2C will continue at low currents until later in the week. Meson Hall users will continue to take beam as scheduled.

The new ISAC production target (SiC #20, a high-power target with a FEBIAD ion source) is taking a long time to outgas. The target vacuum is what's currently limiting progress; we don't want it to go too far above 10^-5 Torr for fear of sparking. Fortunately there's not a lot to measure before delivering beam (¹⁸F to TUDA at its new location in the ISAC-II hall). We'll have a better idea of how things are going tomorrow morning. In the meantime, stable beam tuning to the experiment is underway. – Morton

16:58, 7 May 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance is underway, and is expected to run all the way to 08:30 tomorrow to accommodate a vault access early tomorrow morning. Injection and tuning will follow, so the full scheduled beam currents won't be available until late morning or so.

The ISAC target shielding has been reconfigured for east target operation and stable beam is being tuned from the new target and source. First protons will be requested once the cyclotron tune is sorted out. It will likely take a couple of days to bring the current up to a full 70 µA. We'll have a better idea of how that will go once we get ~5 µA or so on target and see how things outgas. – Morton

19:42, 6 May 2009 (PDT)

We're into the last hour before a 36-hour maintenance. Beam will be going off promptly at 20:30 so that the ISIS crew can get started on replacing the source filament. Vacuum group will be doing work on the Linde cryogenics system as well.

TRILIS development is continuing at ISAC with the last bit of beam available from the current target. That will finish within the next 45 minutes or so so that ISAC Ops can run through the end-of-target checklist before protons go off. We'll start switching from ITW (west target station) operation to ITE (east) this evening. Tomorrow's main job will be moving the target area shielding blocks so that we can put protons into the east station following maintenance. There are several other jobs planned, including the replacement of a power supply needed for the FEBIAD ion source on the new high-power SiC target.

Protons are scheduled to be restored 08:30 Friday with 100 µA down BL1A and 60 µA down BL2C. BL2A will slowly step up to 70—75 µA over a day or two as the new target is brought on-line. – Morton

14:41, 1 May 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

We're currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 30 µA to BL2A. The BL2A current is reduced because the running experiment wanted a lower RIB rate; they're studying systematic effects in half-life data for a future high-precision measurement, and wanted to vary (among other things) the detector rates. We'll likely restore the BL2A current to 40 µA for TRILIS development this evening.

The ISAC experiment that's currently running wraps up at 20:30. At that point, ISAC switches to setup for TRILIS development of tin beams. Access to the mass separator room will likely be required at some point. The plan is to get everything set up overnight for development running until next Wednesday. There is target hall work planned for tomorrow to finish connecting TM4 in the east target station, so protons are expected to go off ~09:30 for about six hours. TRILIS development will resume after that.

Otherwise, everything will continue as is until next week. Have a good weekend.–Morton

22:15, 29 April 2009 (PDT)

After a slightly longer-than-expected cyclotron maintenance, and a somewhat shorter-than-expected day of target hall work at ISAC, the cyclotron is delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue for the foreseeable future.

At ISAC, setup for the next experiment (S1192 at the 8π) is complete – the tune was checked with ²⁷Al and ²⁶Na is sitting on the source Faraday cup at ISAC while the 8π pumps down. They'll run until Friday evening, then hand over the beam for TRILIS development. A target hall access to finish connecting TM4 (which was safely transferred to ITE this afternoon) is planned for Saturday. –Morton

20:18, 27 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. ISAC is delivering ¹¹²Ag to the 8π (experiment S984) while SuperNanogan development continues. No changes are expected overnight.

ISAC will switch to CSB development tomorrow morning; this will run until Wednesday's scheduled maintenance. That will be a long day. TM4 was moved to the east target station and back to the hot cell last week after it clipped the rim of the target station during installation, damaging the RIB shutter and the intermediate plate on top of the vacuum vessel. The module has been repaired, but the plate can't be cleaned up until protons go off on Wednesday. This is expected to delay the move of TM4 back to ITE by ~4 hours. We expect to get TM4 under rough vacuum by the end of the day, but we'll still need another ~6 hours later in the week to make all of the service connections.

On the cyclotron side, Wednesday's "maintenance if required" looks as though it will be required – a number of job requests have been submitted, totalling 4—5 hours of work. The list will be finalized tomorrow. – Morton

23:04, 24 April 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

Everybody's taking beam this weekend – the cyclotron is currently delivering ~110 µA to BL1A, ~60 µA to BL2C, and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue as is until Monday.

At ISAC we are (finally) delivering ¹¹²Ag to the 8π for experiment S984. They'll run with this until at least Monday, and possibly until their run ends Tuesday morning. Off-line, SuperNanogan development is continuing for the next week or so. No changes are expected over the weekend. –Morton

15:41, 23 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering ~100 µA to BL1A and ~50 µA to BL2C. BL2A is off; TM4 was transferred back to the ISAC hot cell earlier today, but the mass separator room is still open for TRILIS work. Once that's complete, BL2A will be ramped back up to 40 µA as scheduled.

Beam development and setup for the upcoming experiment at ISAC (S984) didn't get very far last night. Startup (following yesterday's maintenance) was delayed by problems with the nuclear ventilation system. As a result, BL2A tuning and target scans weren't finished until about 23:00. It was after midnight by the time that things were set up for Ag beam development at the ISAC yield station, and that had to be suspended this morning for the target module move. Development work, for beam delivery to S984 tonight, will continue once protons are restored. – Morton

16:12, 22 April 2009 (PDT)

Maintenance day is wrapping up. ISIS tuning is underway, and we're just waiting for a proton enable on BL2A. The plan is to restore the proton beam and deliver beam to BL1A, BL2C, and BL2A overnight (and until next week).

Tonight should see the development of laser-ionized silver beams at ISAC. Before that, a ²⁶Na signal at the ISAC yield station will be used as a diagnostic for a proton scan of the target. Setup to the next experiment (S984, a decay study of ^112,110Ag at the 8π) will take place tomorrow with the experiment scheduled to start tomorrow evening.

As part of today's maintenance activities, TM4 was transferred back to the east target station. Unfortunately, the RIB shutter on the module will not open. TM4 may have to be transferred back to the hot cell tomorrow (which will take several hours and affect our ability to get TM4 ready to start in two weeks as planned). A decision will be made by ~11:00 tomorrow. – Morton

16:14, 20 April 2009 (PDT)

Work is continuing to bring BL2C on-line. In the meantime, the cyclotron is continuing to deliver ~100 µA to BL1A and 40 µA to BL2A. This should continue until Wednesday's scheduled maintenance.

At ISAC, the TACTIC detector test finished yesterday at ~10:30; SuperNanogan development is now underway. On-line, TRINAT is continuing to take ^86mRb. They'll run until Wednesday morning and may not bother with ^90mRb at all.

We will be switching to ⁸³Rb for release measurements before protons go off Wednesday morning. TRINAT has agreed to give up the beam at 07:30 to accommodate that and to allow for BL2A to be taken off-line earlier than 08:30 if necessary. We would like to get an early start to the target hall work as there's a fair bit of it this week. – Morton

15:31, 17 April 2009 (PDT) – WEEKEND UPDATE

No real changes from yesterday – the cyclotron is still delivering 100 µA down BL1A and 40 µA down BL2A with BL2C off-line. Work is continuing to try to bring BL2C back on-line for the weekend. Things should run like this through the weekend.

TACTIC is back taking ¹²C from OLIS after venting to change what was in their target chamber earlier today. They'll run until Sunday morning, at which time SuperNanogan development is scheduled to start. ^86mRb is being delivered to TRINAT; they'll take either ^86mRb or ^90mRb until next Wednesday morning. – Morton

17:52, 16 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is running, delivering 100 µA to BL1A and 40 µA to BL2A. BL2C was getting ~50 µA earlier in the day as well, but is currently off-line because of problems with the target cooling water resistivity. That will be looked at tomorrow. Otherwise things should run much as they are (with BL2C back on-line) through to next week.

Stable beam from OLIS has been set up to TACTIC for detector tests. These will continue into the weekend. Yield measurements of Rb isotopes are currently underway in preparation for the upcoming TRINAT run; setup for that experiment will take place as soon as the yield measurements are finished. Once that's done, TRINAT will take beam (radioactive Rb isotopes) until next Wednesday's scheduled maintenance. – Morton

16:06, 15 April 2009 (PDT)

We had a late start to today's scheduled 24-hour maintenance so that TIGRESS could wrap up their measurements with ¹¹Be. Beam has been off since about 10:30 for an ISIS filament change. The cyclotron should be back up and running this evening. The plan is tune the machine, BL1A, and BL2C overnight then bring BL2A back online at 08:30 tomorrow morning, as scheduled.

On the ISAC side, TM4 was moved to the hot cell for a target change. OLIS was switched to ¹²C for TACTIC; ISAC Ops have been setting up the ISAC-I accelerators since. TACTIC is scheduled to get beam for six shifts starting tomorrow, but we're going to try to get beam tuned through their target chamber tonight. Tomorrow will be taken up with yield measurements of Rb isotopes in preparation for a TRINAT run (S1127). The experiment is scheduled to start Friday morning, but we've asked that they be ready to take RIB tomorrow night just in case. – Morton

18:35, 14 April 2009 (PDT)

BL1A startup didn't go as planned last night because of a problem with the ISIS slits. As a result, today was an impromptu maintenance day in the hopes of getting the things requiring vault access out of the way. We've restored 40 µA to ISAC and will run BL2A as the sole user overnight, then shut down for an ISIS filament change tomorrow morning. Protons may be available by midnight or so tomorrow; the plan is to work on BL1A and machine tuning until Thursday morning, then bring ISAC back online as scheduled.

At ISAC, stable beam is being tuned through the TIGRESS chamber while the low-energy section is scaled to 22.44 keV for ¹¹Be. We'll switch over to RIB this evening, then run ¹¹Be to TIGRESS overnight. There has been a request to switch to ²³Na just before the proton beam goes off tomorrow morning; ISAC Ops will coordinate this with TIGRESS and the Main Control Room. – Morton

22:33, 10 April 2009 (PDT) – EASTER WEEKEND UPDATE

PIF is finished for the time being, and the BL1A shielding blocks have been restored. Otherwise, everything is as it was yesterday. TIGRESS will continue to run at ISAC until Monday evening, at which point BL1A startup will begin.

For future reference: We probably won't issue updates on weekends and holidays unless something happens that would affect beam delivery. Current operating conditions can be inferred from the MCR and ISAC logs. – Morton

13:49, 9 April 2009 (PDT) – EASTER WEEKEND UPDATE

PIF is continuing at < 1µA while 40 µA go to ISAC for setup of the next experiment. Shielding blocks are still being replaced on BL1A with the goal of bringing beam into the Meson Hall Monday night. BL1A startup is scheduled to begin 20:30 Monday and continue during Tuesday's day shift. Meson Hall channel rates will be needed.

TIGRESS will take ¹⁰Be over the weekend (experiment S1209). The mass change and TRILIS setup are complete, with the beam parked on IMS:FC14. The accelerator tune to TIGRESS is still being worked on, but we should be able to switch over to RIB this afternoon. S1209 will continue until 20:30 Monday.

We're not scheduled to deliver RIB during BL1A startup, so BL2A will be limited to 20 µA overnight Monday. BL2A will go off completely by 07:00 Tuesday for Target Hall work. It should be available again by 14:30. – Morton

15:04, 8 April 2009 (PDT)

The cyclotron is currently delivering 40 µA to ISAC and < 1 µA to PIF. This will continue over the weekend. The BL1A shielding blocks are being put back in the hopes of bringing BL1A online Monday night.

At ISAC, ¹¹Be is still going to β-NMR. They'll run until tomorrow morning, at which point we'll start tuning ¹⁰Be for TIGRESS. Sophia and Marco are tuning ²⁰Ne through the ISAC-II linac to TIGRESS in preparation for the switch to RIB tomorrow. TIGRESS will run until BL1A startup on Monday evening. – Morton

22:29, 7 April 2009 (PDT)

In case you're wondering: We're trying to come up with a way to give an overview of the current and near-term state of beam delivery at the lab. The ISAC and MCR logs are great for record-keeping, but they're not well-suited to looks into the future. What we want to do is provide staff and experimenters with a sort of "weather report" for the next few days so that they know not only what's going on, but what we're hoping to accomplish from a beam delivery standpoint.

The format will change as we figure out what we actually need to post. In the meantime, feel free to forward comments. – Morton

21:56, 7 April 2009 (PDT)

Right now, the cyclotron is delivering 40 µA to ISAC and < 1 µA to PIF. There's no maintenance scheduled for tomorrow, so things should continue like this through the weekend.

At ISAC, ¹¹Be is being delivered to β-NMR for a polarizer test. Sophia is setting up the accelerators with ²⁰Ne for this weekend's TIGRESS ¹⁰Be run. Tomorrow should be more of the same, with stable beam tuning through the TIGRESS vacuum chamber in the afternoon or evening. We'll switch to delivering ¹⁰Be to TIGRESS on Thursday. – Morton